Dare

Just an hour earlier, the man had simply been dispatched on an assignment with a handful of other low level Disciples to apprehend a supposed wanted woman and retrieve an item from her. During the debriefing, his superiors put emphasis on the woman’s dangerous volatile nature. Icarus, taking this into account, found his time would be better spent trying to bust a local troublemaker rather than rile the hornet’s nest. As long as his team got her, they all got rewarded. Why should he have to put his life on the line for it?

That was why the sight before him instilled nothing but panic in Icarus. As the blue light faded, all he had hoped was that his desperate thrust had paid off.

What he saw, instead, was his spike of water, perfectly inert despite its flowing nature, stopped completely in front of the ruffian’s heart by the broad side of a thin aqua strip of light. His hair fell down to cover part of his forehead, perhaps listening to his body’s urge to hide his shocked face. His only solace being the boy before him sharing the same expression.

Seeing the spike being only about an inch from piercing his skin, Slater had been shocked into silence, that is, until a voice brought him back to his senses.

“Authorizing…” A despondent female voice rang out.

Slater jerked his head around looking for the source, but nobody new had entered the alleyway. His immediate next thought was that it had to have been inside his head somehow, which meant his assailant had not heard it. Normally a momentary distraction for himself would be fatal in battle, but Slater was fortunate enough to have his opponent preoccupied with his own anxiety still. 

His assumption that the voice was in his head seemed to be confirmed when the voice came back, saying:

“Registered, commencing combat functionality.”

Hearing those words, Slater’s focus was immediately drawn to the object he had below. Seeing it’s full shape and the energy crystallizing out of it, he became fully aware of what he was holding. Grasping the handle once anew, he rose from his slumped over position with a laugh. By now, his luck had run out and Icarus had returned to the offensive with a yell, but his methods remained simple. As a solitary drill of water launched at his chest again, Slater twirled the object in his hands before holding it still and perpendicular while the drill ran through it. A blast of water scattered behind Slater as the drill fell apart into two halves and dissipated.

While the droplets fell around him, Slater entered an En Garde position to brandish his newfound blade.

Icarus met Slater’s determined gaze. His mind was running rampant with how to handle the situation.

If I don’t run, this could end really badly for me… But, he has what we came for—nobody else knows that. I could get help, but if I beat him alone I could be promoted to be an Apostle…Before his thoughts could develop further, Slater rushed forward with his blade and took a slash at Icarus’ abdomen. His instincts not betraying him, Icarus was able to jump backwards to avoid it, but had to spin even further back to avoid three thrusts Slater inserted after his slash.

As he spun away, more liquid spikes emerged from Icarus’ cloak and charged towards Slater. Paying them no mind, Slater rushed forward and slashed each one as it came close to him. Once he had taken them all out, Slater jumped and brought his blade down on Icarus. Before it could make contact though, his back leg had been grasped midair by a hand of water that emerged from the thin layer of water on the ground and tossed him further back into the alley.

The blade buried into the ground, slowing Slater’s slide backwards and sending sparks flying to illuminate the dark alleyway. Icarus could only watch at his swordplay.

“How the heck does someone like you learn to use a sword like that?” Icarus let out, commanding a small wave of water forward.

Slater stood up, and with one overhead slash, delivered his reply: “A person like you wouldn’t typically see where swordsmanship like this came from,” his mouth contorted into a full-teethed overconfident smile. “Not like you’d need to know anyway—“ Slater slashed again, but this time a projectile slash of energy was thrown from his blade and made contact with Icarus’ left arm, leaving it bleeding and limp.

Looking down at his blade, Slater wondered how he even accomplished that, while Icarus raised up his still working arm. The water remaining from the wave Slater had parted had gathered in the crevice Slater had also made in stabilizing himself earlier. Now that it was all in one place, Icarus commanded it to thrust upwards as a sharp plane to separate his enemy in two.

Being right under Slater, there was nothing he could do to react—at least that’s what his thought process was. However, for a moment, the wall seemed to move slower as it erected from the ground, and his movements, while sluggish, still were happening. By the time the strange slow-motion ended, his blade had been positioned beneath him, and when things began moving at their normal pace again he was launched to the side off of the plane and landed with a knee on the ground.

All Icarus could do in response was give a defeated chuckle.

“You’re a monster, you know that?”

Slater stood back up, taking his stance one again as he prepared for one final push.

“No… I’m just desperate.”

He kicked himself forward, holding both hands on his blade. Icarus’ fingers moved to command his water once again, but seeing a ravenous beast like that in front of him, Icarus couldn’t help but accept his fate, and they soon froze. Slater’s blade, before he could comprehend it, tore into his side as it ran him directly through.

As he stood processing the events, Icarus let out one last regret.

“Maybe I should… have tried running away, instead—“

And with a muffled thud, the man in the white cloak fell to his knees, and then collapsed onto the ground.

Slater looked on at the collapsed body, shuddering at what he had caused. Looking into the faint glow of his blade, Slater spoke to himself.

“What… are you?”